Decoherence of coupled spin qubits due to charge fluctuations

Qin-Ying Yang, Bao‐Long Liang, Ji‐Suo Wang

Diego C. B. Valente

In this dissertation we discuss decoherence in charge qubits formed by multiple lateral quantum dots in the framework of the spin-boson model and the Born-Markov approximation. We consider the intrinsic decoherence caused by the coupling to bulk phonon modes and electromagnetic environmental fluctuations. In the case of decoherence caused by phonon coupling, two distinct quantum dot configurations are studied and proposed as setups that mitigate its nocive effects : (i) Three quantum dots in a ring geometry with one excess electron in total and (ii) arrays of quantum dots where the computational basis states form multipole charge configurations. For the three-dot qubit, we demonstrate the possibility of performing one- and two-qubit operations by solely tuning gate voltages. Compared to a previous proposal involving a linear three-dot spin qubit, the three-dot charge qubit allows for less overhead on two-qubit operations. For small interdot tunnel amplitudes, the three-dot qubits have Q factors much higher than those obtained for double-dot systems. The high-multipole dot configurations also show a substantial decrease in decoherence at low operation frequencies when compared to the double-dot qubit. We also discuss decoherence due to electromagnetic fluctuations in charge qubits formed by two lateral quantum dots. We use effective circuit models to evaluate correlations of voltage fluctuations in the qubit setup. These correlations allows us to estimate energy (T1) and phase (T2) relaxation times of the the qubit system. We also discuss the dependence the quality factor Q shows with respect to parameters of the setup, such as temperature and capacitive coupling between the electrodes.

Janos Storcz, Mathematisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät I

Serguei Vorojtsov

In this thesis I find an analytic expression for the conductance of a single electron transistor in the regime when temperature, level spacing, and charging energy of an island are all of the same order. I also study the correction to the spacing between Coulomb blockade peaks due to finite dot-lead tunnel couplings. I find analytic expressions for both correction to the spacing averaged over mesoscopic fluctuations and the rms of the correction fluctuations. In the second part of the thesis I discuss the feasibility of quantum dot based spin- and charge-qubits. Firstly, I study the effect of mesoscopic fluctuations on the magnitude of errors that can occur in exchange operations on quantum dot spin-qubits. Mid-size double quantum dots, with an odd number of electrons in the range of a few tens in each dot, are investigated through the constant interaction model using realistic parameters. It is found that the number of independent parameters per dot that one should tune depends on the configuration and ranges from one to four. Then, I study decoherence of a quantum dot charge qubit due to coupling to piezoelectric acoustic phonons in the Born-Markov approximation. After including appropriate form factors, I find that phonon decoherence rates are one to two orders of magnitude weaker than was previously predicted. My results suggest that mechanisms other than phonon decoherence play a more significant role in current experimental setups.

Diego C. B. Valente, Frank K. Wilhelm, Eduardo R. Mucciolo

Toshifumi Itakura

It has been proposed that a quantum computer can be constructed based on electron spins in quantum dots or based on a superconducting nanocircuit. During two-qubit operations, the fluctuation of the coupling parameters is a critical factor. One source of such fluctuation is the stirring of the background charges. We focused on the influence of this fluctuation on a coupled spin qubit system. The induced fluctuation in exchange coupling changes the amount of entanglement, fidelity, and purity. In our previous study, the background charge fluctuations were found to be an important channel of dephasing for a single Josephson qubit.